Skills Required by Women in Agriculture in Soybean Production for Poverty Reduction

Abstract

This study identified the skills required by women in soybean production for poverty reduction in Abia state. The study was carried out in Abia State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. A survey research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study was 638. This was made up of 565 women in Agriculture involved in soybean production and 73 extension agents in Abia State. The sample of the study was 234 from the population of the women in Agriculture involved in soybean and the entire population of the extension agents was used for the study. A 44-item questionnaire was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts. The Cronbach Alpha reliability method was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument. A reliability coefficient of 0.89 was obtained. Three hundred and seven copies of the questionnaire were administered to the respondents. All the administered copies of the questionnaire were retrieved and analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and t-test. It was found that women in Agriculture required 18 skills in planning and pre-planting operations, 10 skills in planting and post-planting operations, and 16 skills in harvest, processing, and marketing operations of soybean production. It was recommended among others that the identified skills in soybean production should be developed into training modules by extension agents and administrators of skill acquisition centres for training of interested individuals especially the women in Agriculture in soybean production.